


Fish Out of Water

by notaverse



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, uke!Jin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-01
Updated: 2011-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaverse/pseuds/notaverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akame take on the classic fairytale, 'The Little Mermaid', but with an ending closer to the Disney version than the angsty original. When Jin visits a mermage to help him achieve his goal of being with Kame on the surface, he soon learns that there's more to being human than walking on two legs, especially when his laidback surfer friend turns out to be a workaholic idol with a passion for fashion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fish Out of Water

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Fish Out of Water  
>  **Fandom:** KAT-TUN  
>  **Pairing:** Kame/Jin  
>  **Rating:** PG  
>  **Genre:** Twisted fairy tale, AU, fluff  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine, damnit.

"It's not healthy," Nakamaru warned when Jin came back with yet another souvenir from the surface, this one a ragged shirt with colourful stars and stripes in red, white and blue.

Koki went one step further. "It's sick," he said, "that's what it is. You're just tormenting yourself with scraps of a life you can't have. Why don't you settle down and find yourself a nice mermaid to marry? There's tons of girls who'd love a piece of a prince's tail."

Jin flipped the aforementioned tail, pushing himself up from his reclining position on the seabed. "You sound like Uncle Johnny," he complained, naming the ruler of the oceans. "He keeps telling me to be more responsible."

"I'm surprised he hasn't forbidden you to visit the surface altogether, the way you keep risking yourself for junk from the land."

"Who's to say he hasn't?" Jin winked at Nakamaru, grabbed his latest souvenir and swam back to the palace before he had to listen to another one of Koki's lectures on why land was for losers.

\-----

As it happened, Uncle Johnny hadn't banned Jin from visiting the surface - yet - but only because he had no idea just how much time his young nephew spent far above his home, gazing enviously at sandy shores, ducking beneath the waves when the sun's fierce warmth became too much for him. Jin had no plans to enlighten him.

The souvenir collection might have given it away, of course, if Jin had been so foolish as to leave it out on display...but he had a secret. He squeezed through a gap in the rock, scraping a few dark red scales from his tail in the process, holding his breath and willing himself smaller till he emerged in a cave behind the palace's residential wing where his most treasured possessions were hidden from prying eyes. The only other entrance was a coral-covered hole high in the ceiling; not even a minnow could slip through.

He folded the torn shirt, careful not to ruin it further; merpeople had no need for clothing, of course, since it did their skin no harm to be in constant contact with the surrounding water, but he knew how fragile humans living on land were, how they required protection from blazing sun, from falling rain, from biting wind and the bitter cold that Jin had never experienced for himself till the first time he'd broken the surface and watched his breath hang in the air. He'd seen men - and women too - garbed in fabric in all patterns and colours, brighter than any fish in the ocean.

Jin had a whole collection of them, these clothes - even the garments humans wore round their legs, though his tail prevented him from trying them on. (Well, he'd wriggled into a couple of them, but a few more trips to the surface had taught him that they were of the kind generally worn by women.) He had jewellery too - rings and necklaces and bracelets and things he couldn't even identify but thought would look good if he ever ended up on dry land. He could deck himself out in all sorts of trinkets, the way Koki did with shell necklaces.

At least the jewellery, he could wear underwater. His favourite accessory was completely pointless unless he broke the surface.

Jin rummaged around in the corner of the cave until he found a battered black fedora; battered, only because he continually hugged it to his chest, smiling to himself, remembering the night he'd acquired it.

Maybe its owner would be out again today? There was always the possibility, wasn't there? Would anyone notice if Jin sneaked up to the surface and visited the beach, careful to keep his lower body out of sight in the water?

No, he decided. No one would notice. Not if he was careful. Nakamaru was supposed to be keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't do anything too reckless - after the time Jin had gotten in a fight with a shark, his uncle had hinted that it might be in the best interests of Jin's friends if they watched out for him a little better - but Koki was with him now and that meant the pair of them would probably be out on the reef somewhere.

Besides, it was worth the risk to see _him_ again. Light of heart and fast of fin, Jin backed out from his treasure trove and swam towards the light.

It was late afternoon, he thought. The sun was low in the sky; warm on his face, not strong enough to make him duck back under. It made him feel lazy, ready to curl up on a rock and bask until his skin darkened to the light brown of the humans who frequented the beach, so unlike his own pale flesh. Merpeople didn't exactly get many opportunities to tan, what with the risk of being spotted by humans and all.

Jin couldn't afford to get caught; his uncle had warned him many times what would happen if he did. He'd be carried away by men in white coats, never to be seen again. Jin's seabird friends had told him how humans treated anything with a tail: as a pet, as an exhibit...or as lunch.

There were few humans around now, though. Perhaps they were all in their wide, sprawling cities, walking around on their legs, talking and laughing with ease. Those still at the beach were lounging on towels much further along the shore. Jin always emerged in a cluster of rocks where his tail was well-hidden from view; by and large, the surfers and swimmers avoided it, especially during the day.

It was easy enough for Jin to work his way round to the shallows. He couldn't go right up onto the sand, of course - not when there was anyone who might see. Besides, if he did, he'd have to drag himself around on his hands, which always made him feel clumsy and graceless. No matter how much he longed to be able to visit the land, he knew he'd never be able to feel at home there as long as he had a tail.

"Hey!"

Jin turned round, eyes lighting up at the familiar voice. A young human man was racing towards him, kicking up clouds of sand with his bare feet. For a moment, Jin thought he was going to run right into the water; he stopped at the edge, letting the tide lap gently at his toes.

"I have to go to work in a few minutes," the newcomer explained. "I don't have time to come in; we're filming the new PV tonight and I can't be late."

Whenever Kame started talking about PVs and variety shows, or recording studios and radio programmes, Jin made a point of smiling and nodding like he understood every word. The only part he did understand was that his friend Kame, who loved surfing so much he lived only five minutes away from the beach, was Kamenashi Kazuya: singer, actor, athlete and all-round idol. At least, he _said_ he was, albeit with great embarrassment; Jin had heard him sing once, but never seen him act, and he didn't think he was likely to.

He had seen him surf, though, and from the way women and men alike clustered round him, eager for a moment of his attention, it was obvious he was very popular.

Jin didn't care. Whoever and whatever Kame was the rest of the time, when he was at the beach, he was Jin's friend.

"It's okay, you're not dressed for it anyway," Jin said. Kame's denim shorts would take forever to dry, he knew, and in any case, it was easier for Jin to hide his tail if Kame remained on land. "I can talk to you from here."

"You still won't come out?"

Jin shook his head.

Kame grinned. "You're a real water baby, aren't you?"

"You have *no* idea..."

"Hmm?"

"Never mind."

Jin had found himself saying that a lot when he first visited the surface. Though the same language was spoken both below and above the water, it was difficult to adapt to speaking in air rather than through liquid; consequently, Jin's speech had been halting, hesitant, quietly copied from sunbathers as they lay within earshot.

There had been a marked improvement by the time he met Kame. No more mumbling, no more stuttering. Except when he got nervous, which happened sometimes when Kame got too close to discovering Jin's identity.

"Have you been here all day?" Jin asked.

"If only." Kame waded out another few steps. "I've spent most of it in interviews. I think the only reason they let me go now is because the PV shoot is supposed to be at sunset, and I had to have a break first.

"So I grabbed a bite to eat and came out to see if you were around. You don't have any afternoon lectures today, right?"

"Actually, Koki did try to tell me...uh, no, no lectures. That's right."

In lieu of a background for Jin, Kame had conveniently come up with his own, assuming that his new friend was a student at the nearby university. Jin hadn't known what a university was - he'd asked Koki, who'd responded with, "It's a school, moron." Jin supposed that a school of humans was quite different from a school of fish; from Kame's comments and those of the genuine students who hung out at the beach, he gathered that university was about more than synchronised swimming.

Kame sighed. "Sometimes I wish I'd stayed in school. But I'm not sure how well I'd do being cooped up indoors all day, not when I can live like this." He spread his arms wide to indicate the sun, sand and surf. "Still, you certainly manage to find enough time to hit the beach!"

"My schedule's practically empty," Jin said, which was true enough. He was by no means the only member of the royal family in line for the throne - with another six princes and princesses before him, it was rarely he was called upon to perform any official duties. "I can spend as much time here as I want."

"Then your suncream must be industrial strength. Or..." Kame reached down to flick the spray at Jin's bare chest. "Maybe you live underwater, and that's why you're so pale."

If Jin was already white, now he turned near-transparent. "I-I don't-"

"Wouldn't it be interesting if you did, though?" Kame's smile turned mischievous. "Can you imagine what it would be like, living in such a cold, dark place, side by side by plants and creatures you'd never see outside captivity? You could wake up in the morning surrounded by dolphins or something."

"If you want to wake up with dolphins, I do know a guy," Jin teased. He did have the best connections in the ocean, after all. "But I think it would be much nicer to live on the surface and see the sun whenever you wanted."

"Mmm...so do I, but I still want to come play in the sea - especially since it's the only place I seem to be able to find you. How long have we known each other, Jin? Maybe half a year? And I've never even seen you leave the water."

"It's not like I'm always here-"

"Then how about this?" Kame interrupted. "I'm working tomorrow night too, but I'm free all day Saturday. We could get together, maybe go for a meal. Or I could cook?"

"I'd love to," and that was real regret in Jin's voice, "but I've got practice. All day."

Jin had heard that excuse used to great effect by others - he left it up to Kame's imagination to provide the nature of said practice.

"Oh yeah, I've heard the swim team's got a competition coming up soon."

"Soon," Jin agreed. "And I need all the practice I can get."

"You must have more than anyone else on the team by now." Kame didn't sound too heartbroken that Jin had turned him down, though. "Another time, all right?"

"Definitely."

It wasn't the first time Kame had asked him to leave the water. Sometimes he'd suggest that they go to get an ice cream, or something cold to drink. Once, when they'd been messing round with an inflatable ball, Kame had thrown it all the way back to the beach; since Jin had been closest, Kame had left it for him to fetch. Jin had had to feign cramp to avoid any awkward questions.

"You at least have to come to the launch party for my new single," Kame insisted. "I'm not turning up without a date, and you're just the guy to help me convince my ex-boyfriend it's over. He's such an octopus."

Jin suppressed his first reaction, which was to say, "Your ex is an octopus? Mine too!", and settled for incoherent but suitably sympathetic noises.

"He was so clingy," Kame continued, "and his hands were always everywhere."

 _Oh._ Not an actual octopus, then, just some lovestruck human who couldn't keep his hands off Kame. Not that Jin could blame him. Kame's habit of going shirtless meant that Jin had a wonderfully unobstructed view of smooth tan over firm muscle, topped with sun-streaked brown hair and a playful grin.

Jin's own hair, darker brown, was always flat and slicked back when he broke the surface but natural curls appeared as it dried in the sun. He'd noticed it once, when he'd been exploring in a pool still enough to reflect his image. He'd tried to brush it out, to smooth the tangles away with his fingers. Kame's hair didn't look like it got tangled at all. Sometimes, Jin wanted to run his fingers through it and see for himself if it was as soft as it looked.

"Sounds like a real catch," Jin muttered.

"Funny you should say that - I met him at a celebrity fishing contest. I'm pretty sure he only wrangled himself onto my hook because I'd just gone double platinum with my second single, though."

Jin's mind went temporarily blank as he tried to figure out the significance of this.

His expression evidently amused Kame, who burst out in such violent laughter he almost overbalanced - if he hadn't been clapping his hands together, they'd have ended up in the water.

"This is what I like most about you, Jin," Kame said. "You have absolutely no idea what that means, do you?"

"I...don't know much about entertainment terms," Jin admitted with a shrug.

"I know you said your family were strict, but that they wouldn't even let you listen to the radio..." Six months of talking to Kame and Jin still didn't know what a 'radio' was. "I guess if you don't grow up listening to music, you don't really think about it even when you're out on your own."

"I listen to music!" Jin protested. "Almost everyone I know sings. When my family gets together to celebrate the New Year, we hold a concert in the gardens."

The underwater gardens at the palace, but naturally, Jin couldn't tell Kame this.

"I want to hear you sing."

Kame had sung one of his songs for Jin before, wanting the opinion of someone who had no reason to flatter him before he went public with it, but Jin had never returned the favour. He wasn't sure what Kame would think of the kind of songs he sung with his friends and family - songs that talked about settling down in a nice patch of kelp, or how you could tell if she was the girl for you because the scales of her tail would turn a rosy red when your eyes met.

Maybe he'd write something new. Something about how his life had changed the night he'd seen Kame for the first time and known then that somehow, he was going to find a way to walk on the land.

Jin swallowed hard; it felt like he had a starfish stuck in his throat. "You will," he said. "Not today, though."

"You do sound a little rough," Kame said. "Maybe you're getting a cold? You should go home and wrap up warm."

There was no way Jin could explain to Kame why that just wasn't possible.

"At the very least, go dry off. The water's getting cold now." Kame shivered for effect. "I have to leave for work - my manager's probably going crazy."

"You haven't already driven him crazy?"

"I'm working on it." Kame began walking backwards up the beach, waving with both hands. "Hope practice goes well!"

Jin struggled to remember exactly what Kame had said he was going to be working on. "Um...have fun shooting the PV!" Whatever a PV might be. He hoped it wasn't as painful as it sounded.

Kame turned round after he nearly tripped over a rock but he kept waving till then. Jin waved back, waited till he could no longer see Kame, then dived for home. He had a song to write.

\-----

Jin wasn't expecting a welcome committee. He'd been hoping to sneak back home unnoticed, not return to his room to find Nakamaru and Koki waiting for him, sombre and subdued. The warm, slightly giddy feeling he always had when he was around Kame dissipated in a trice.

"What?" he snapped. "Did someone complain about your rapping again?"

"Jin, we don't like having to tell you this, but...uh..." Nakamaru flipped his tail nervously. "Your uncle."

"He _knows_ ," Koki said. "About your little jaunts to the surface. He found your stash of souvenirs."

Cracks began to appear in Jin's world. "And?"

"I'm sorry." Nakamaru reached for Jin's shoulder, then thought better of it. "He destroyed it - brought the whole cave down. There's nothing there but rubble now."

Koki sighed heavily. "It gets worse. We have to stick with you day *and* night to make sure you don't go gallivanting up top again. Your uncle thinks it's too much of a risk, that you're endangering us all by spending so much time on the surface."

"He's worried for you too," Nakamaru added. "In case you get captured by humans and spend the rest of your life chained up in some exhibit somewhere."

"Like I'm not chained up now," Jin muttered.

Oh, maybe he wasn't chained physically - nobody was keeping him pinned down in his room and they'd have had a fight on their hands if they'd tried - but he was trapped, restricted, as much as if he'd been shackled to the seabed.

"I'm sure he'll relent eventually," Nakamaru said.

"Till then, we're stuck with you," Koki said gloomily. "Do you know what this is going to do to my social life?"

Jin wished he had a pair of legs simply so he could stamp his feet in anger; it just wasn't the same with a tail. There was grace, underwater, but no impact, no satisfying crack of flesh against rock. Everything was slower - too slow for Jin.

"I don't care about your social life," Jin snarled. "If he thinks I'm going to let myself be cosseted like some little kid who trips over his own tail..." The threat was implied rather than vocalised, but no less potent for all that.

As with many things, this made Nakamaru nervous. "What are you thinking?"

Jin was surprised the water around him wasn't boiling, because his blood certainly was. "I'm leaving, of course. If I have to stay down here for the rest of my life I'll go completely mad."

"Don't be an idiot." Koki's tone was part-scorn, part-sympathy. "Your uncle's got people everywhere. Even if you swim round to the other side of the world, he'll find you and have you brought back."

Defiance and sheer stubborness overruled any common sense Jin possessed. "Then I'll go where he has no power. Even Uncle Johnny can't reach me on the surface."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Koki said.

"No one's asking you to. Just look the other way for five minutes and tell my uncle I never came back."

"And what are you going to do about this?" Nakamaru asked, pointing to Jin's tail. "How far do you think you're going to get on dry land?"

Jin was in no mood to puzzle out the technicalities. "A lot further than you could!"

Koki shook his head. "I don't get it. Why are you so obsessed with going to the surface? It's hot, dry, dull...full of humans who eat our neighbours. They probably eat each other too; it wouldn't surprise me."

"I have my reasons."

The first time Jin had swum up to the surface, he'd been curious, following the sunlight to its source and marvelling that he couldn't even come close. The second time, he'd risen near the beach, where families of humans were playing in the water. Jin hadn't realised, until he'd heard their rapid speech and noticed the lack of tails, that they weren't like him.

After that, he'd become entranced, surfacing whenever and wherever he could to watch the humans and other land-dwellers; sometimes on the shore, sometimes at sea. He'd collect the things they left behind, treasuring them for the hints they gave about a life he could never have.

And once he met Kame, Jin wanted more than ever to experience this other world. Merpeople were a fair race and Jin more so than most; he'd never had any shortage of company but over the last half a year, his interest had faded, his desire to spend time with his new friend increasing.

He'd never told anyone about Kame, though.

"You've always got your reasons," Koki said, "but they never make any sense to the rest of us."

Nakamaru chided him for that. "I think he's serious, Koki. Just look at him."

Koki looked at Jin; Jin looked away. He didn't care if they saw how unhappy he was, but he didn't much like being embarrassed in public and he knew what he was going to say next would prove extremely embarrassing.

"There's someone I want to meet," he said quietly. "Up there. I...I want to see him again."

"Oh no." Koki put his hands up and started backing away. "I'm not getting involved in your love life again. Not after the last time. I've still got the scars."

"Jin, this person - he wants to see you too?" Nakamaru's voice was unexpectedly kind.

Jin knew Kame wanted to see him - wanted to take him to a party, even, and to hear him sing - but how much Kame really liked him, he had no way of knowing. Still, he wanted to find out.

"Yes. We've been meeting up top for months. I can't just turn my back on him now."

Nakamaru nodded. "All right. Hang on for a few days, okay? I know someone who _might_ be able to help you, but he's not easy to get hold of."

"You mean...?" Koki gulped and made the sign of the trident over his chest.

"Yeah, that guy," Nakamaru confirmed. "Jin, I hope the person you like is worth the price you're going to have to pay."

\-----

Five days later, Jin was following Koki and Nakamaru down into the darkest, most foreboding trench he'd ever had the misfortune to swim in. It didn't help that they were completely alone. Even the most foolhardy fish gave it a wide berth.

Jin had been doing the same with his uncle. After Nakamaru had rushed off to put his plan into action, Jin had reluctantly let Koki talk him into putting in an appearance at dinner. Uncle Johnny had delivered a lecture that left Jin's ears ringing; since he didn't feel inclined to put himself through more of the same, he'd spent most of his time holed up in his room, ostensibly sulking but actually puzzling over what Nakamaru's acquaintance might be able to do to help.

Koki hadn't been able to enlighten him, only offered a warning that whatever happened, Jin was bound to wind up in some kind of trouble. Based on their surroundings, Jin thought trouble might be coming along in the form of some legendary, never-before-seen deep sea monster, lying in wait to ambush them and swallow them whole.

Luckily, the long, slippery coil that wrapped itself round Jin's neck turned out not to be the tentacle of some fantastical creature but merely a friendly, excessively cheerful eel, introduced by Nakamaru as 'Junno'.

"Junno works for the man you're going to meet," he explained. "He's come to take you to Ueda."

"Just me?" Jin cast a fearful glance into the darkness beyond. "Shouldn't you come too?"

"He'd rather deal with you one-on-one," Junno said. "Don't worry, Ueda doesn't bite. Often, anyway!"

"We'll be waiting right here," Koki said. "So try make it quick." He didn't sound like he relished the prospect any more than Jin did.

"I'm pretty sure he won't kill you," Nakamaru said, as if that was supposed to help. "Just tell him the truth."

There was nothing to be done but go for it, following Junno to his master. The trench angled down on a slant; Junno took all manner of odd twists and turns before the scenery brightened, light pouring from the mouth of a wide cave. It was neither the pale gleam of phosphorous nor the dazzling brilliance of sunshine. Jin puzzled over it until the source of illumination became clear: a large, green-tinged ball suspended in the centre of the cave.

"You shouldn't touch that."

Jin snatched back his fingertips as a green bolt of light escaped from the surface of the ball, narrowly missing his skin. He looked around for the owner of the voice.

Junno wriggled past, swam a couple of dizzying spirals, and disappeared into the shadows where, Jin finally noticed, a pair of bright eyes were watching.

"You'll burn your fingers," the voice continued. "I use it to keep intruders away."

"I-I'm...not an intruder," Jin stuttered. "Are you Ueda?"

There was a rush of water strong enough to knock Jin back to the cave mouth, and Ueda emerged into the light. Not that Jin could see much of him - he wore a hooded cloak that covered his face, and it was only the tail that peeked out from underneath that told Jin Ueda was a merman like himself. His voice wasn't the deep, threatening rumble Jin had been expecting, either...but neither was it particularly warm.

"I've heard your story," Ueda said, "but I'd like to hear it from you. Please."

Telling a total stranger about his desire to go to the surface and meet up with humans wasn't nearly as difficult as telling his friends had been. Ueda didn't laugh at him, or tell him he was being ridiculous. From time to time, he asked for more details, wanting to know about Kame and what Jin saw in him.

Eventually, Jin ran out of words. There was nothing further he could say to convince Ueda to help him. Had it been enough? Jin rested on a broken chest, watching Junno swim loops round the light ball and waiting for Ueda's decision.

After a good ten minutes of silence, Ueda said, "What are you prepared to give up to be with your Kame?"

"You can arrange that?"

Ueda snorted. "I'm the only mermage left in these parts - if I can't do it, you'll have to travel a long way to find someone who can.

"Yes, I can do it. I can give you what you need - legs - but I can't give you what you want. The human heart is beyond my control. I can't make this man love you...but I _can_ give you the opportunity to help yourself. I'll give you legs for three days. If, in that time, you can make him kiss you - and no, it doesn't count if you instigate it or pretend to drown so he'll resuscitate you - you get to keep the legs. Whether or not you get to keep _him_ is up to you."

"All I have to do is get him to kiss me?"

"Yes, but...there's a catch."

Jin's hopes, which had been rising steadily as Ueda spoke, came crashing down. "What kind of catch? What do I have to do?"

"The spell requires a trade - a bargain for your legs. I already asked you: what are you prepared to give up, in order to walk on the land?"

There were certain vices Jin figured he could probably do without. "Alcohol?"

"I was thinking of something a little more...personal." Jin didn't like the way Ueda's voice turned playful. "You wouldn't have seen me, but I was at your last New Year's concert. Your singing voice really is quite beautiful. As payment, then, I require...your voice."

Jin's hands flew automatically to cover his mouth. "You can't do that!"

Movement of the cape suggested Ueda was shrugging. "I can do anything I like. Besides, you should be grateful you're not dealing with my predecessor. She'd have had your tongue cut out."

"As payment?"

"No, just for fun." Ueda pulled a clam shell out of nowhere, flipping it open. "I'll use this to capture your voice. Don't worry, it won't hurt. You'll have your legs and I'll have a new music-box to keep me entertained."

"But how am I supposed to talk to Kame?"

Ueda pushed back the hood of his cape, sending the whole thing drifting back; illuminated in full by the magic light ball, he appeared surprisingly normal - a young, lithe but muscular merman of around Jin's own age, with shaggy red hair and a pale green tail. His wide, gleeful smile outshone even his own magic; Jin wasn't sure if it made him look friendly or demented. The suggestive series of hip rolls he performed certainly made him look amorous, though.

"Body language," Ueda said. "Don't underestimate it."

"I did once," Junno whispered as he slithered past Jin's ear, "and look what happened to me. I wasn't always an eel, you know."

So much for telling Kame everything and explaining that he had to kiss Jin to make the change permanent. "What happens if Kame doesn't kiss me in three days?"

"Well, I could do with another minion...or I could send you back to your uncle, with a tail but minus a voice. I'm sure he'd be very interested to learn why."

Neither option sounded particularly pleasant. Either way, Jin was ending up back in the sea if he couldn't find a means to communicate with Kame.

"Still want to do it?" Ueda asked. "It's not too late to change your mind."

Jin had never been any good at backing down from anything, even when it scared him. Not when he wanted it so badly. And really, would it be so difficult to make Kame understand? He'd never had a problem reading Jin's facial expressions before - who was to say they even needed words?

"I'll do it." Jin shuddered as a sadistic gleam entered Ueda's eyes. "I'll trade you my voice."

"Then..." Ueda pulled a bottle from the shelf behind him, wrapped his hand round the neck, murmuring an incantation. Purple bubbles formed and popped inside the glass. He handed the bottle to Jin. "Here. Drink this only when you reach the surface because the effects will be immediate."

Jin accepted it with shaking hands, thanking Ueda more out of force of habit than because he felt genuinely grateful. When he tried to say more, the mermage shook his head and held the clam shell in front of Jin's lips.

"I won't ask if you have any last words. Hold still, please."

Magic or fear burned Jin's throat - he wasn't sure which. A thin, ribbon-like stream forced its way through his lips, into the clam shell, which Ueda snapped shut the instant the stream disappeared. The bottle's contents glowed with the addition of the trade element, completing the spell. Jin opened his mouth to ask if that was it, if he could go now, and gasped soundlessly when nothing came out.

"It's finished," Ueda said, answering his unspoken question. "Go to the surface. Junno will take you back to your friends and explain to them in your place." He waved a dismissal at the eel then turned his back on them both, cracking open the clam shell once more. Jin was horrified to hear his own voice emerge, singing a ribald ditty about plankton.

Junno led him back to Koki and Nakamaru, delivered a very fast explanation then swam off before anyone could query him. Koki was fuming, Nakamaru was morose but resigned.

"We'll go with you to the surface," he volunteered.

"We will?" Koki said.

"Jin's going to need somebody with him when he drinks that stuff. What if something goes wrong? He could drown!"

"I don't see how much good we'll be in that case," Koki grumbled, but he played escort anyway, slipping Jin the occasional sympathetic glance when he thought no one was looking.

Koki always had to be the tough guy, balancing out Nakamaru's easygoing nature, meeting caution with fierce energy. Though Jin hated that his uncle had subborned his friends into babysitting him, he welcomed their support, especially now.

They rose by Jin's favourite stretch of beach, where the first hints of daylight were streaking the grey skies. Jin clung tightly to the precious bottle. He could pull himself out of the water, crawl along the sand till he was out of reach of the tide, then swallow the spell and wait. Wait for legs...wait for Kame.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Nakamaru asked when they were bobbing in the shallows. "It's not too late to go back and tell Ueda you've changed your mind."

Jin couldn't answer, but that didn't stop him from opening his mouth. Not even a squeak. He'd have screamed in frustration if he could have. He settled for wrapping his arms round Nakamaru's neck, saying all his thanks, all his apologies and all his goodbyes in one desperate embrace. Koki nudged his way in and then there were three of them, clinging to each other as though they'd fall apart the instant they let go.

"Your uncle's going to kill us," Koki said when they finally separated. "We'll be sharkbait."

"We'll watch for you," Nakamaru promised. "You can always come home, Jin. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do - you can always come home."

The early morning breeze scraped Jin's eyes; he rubbed away the moisture, bit down on his lip and turned before he could change his mind. It was undignified, the way he had to drag himself up the sand, holding the bottle carefully between his teeth, but there were no observers save Nakamaru, Koki, and a handful of seagulls who cared nothing for the spectacle of a merman leaving his natural habitat. When he judged that he'd covered enough ground, he sat down, pulled the cork from the bottle and gave his friends a brave smile before downing the spell.

It was easily the most revolting thing he'd ever tasted, even counting that dreadful concoction his uncle used to make him drink when he was sick. If Jin had been able to move, he'd have rolled over and vomited. As it was, the spell knocked him flat on his back; all he could do was scream in silent agony as fire encircled his hips. It felt as though he were being sliced in two, torn apart across the middle where the pale skin of his stomach segued into the dark red scales of his tail.

Had Ueda lied to him? Was he going to die, a helpless half-creature, abandoned on the beach with his body in pieces and features twisted by pain?

Jin closed his eyes, clenched his fists and gritted his teeth against the torment. _Endure_ , he told himself. _Endure. You haven't come this far to give up now._

His heart endured, but when the scales began to flake away from the fresh, raw skin of his newly-formed thighs, his body couldn't keep up. Every grain of sand burned, every sharp-edged shell scored a line of pain along delicate flesh.

Jin stopped fighting.

\-----

Waking up wasn't nearly as traumatic as losing consciousness had been. Jin felt fingers pressing gently against his neck, warm on his chilled skin. He was colder than he'd ever been in his life, which was only to be expected since he was...

 _Naked._

Humans weren't supposed to wander around naked. If Jin's collection hadn't been destroyed, he could've brought clothes up with him so he'd at least have had cover, but he had nothing. Although the sand beneath his back was warm, it didn't help much when the air was early-morning cool and Jin's legs were enjoying their first exposure to the atmosphere.

 _Legs..._

Jin forced his eyes open, keen to inspect his new lower body, and came face to face with Kame.

Kame pulled his fingers away, sighing with relief. "You had me worried," he said. "I've seen the aftermath of some dumb student pranks before but this has to be the worst, leaving you passed out naked on the beach like that. You could've drowned, or been attacked, or-"

He fell silent as Jin struggled to sit up. Since this proved impossible, he slipped a hand under Jin's back to support his movements. Forgetting Ueda's price, Jin opened his mouth to thank Kame.

"You really have lost your voice now," Kame said, dismayed. "I told you to wrap up. I guess being out here hasn't helped your cold any. Can you sit up by yourself?"

Jin nodded, not really paying attention. He was too absorbed in looking at his legs. How long they seemed! How pale! How strange! Could he stand? Could he walk like the humans now? Could he...be human?

"Okay. I'm going to lend you this," Kame quickly stripped off his long, plaid shirt, holding out the sleeves for Jin to insert his arms; Jin was grateful for the warmth, "and I'll take you back to my house. It's only five minutes from here. I can drive you home later."

Not unless Kame had a vehicle that could travel underwater, he couldn't. Jin knew such things existed - he'd never seen one himself, though a friend of his had almost been hit by one. But home was no longer with Uncle Johnny and the rest of his family and friends. Jin had no home now, which he hadn't stopped to consider before embarking on his desperate quest. He hoped Kame wouldn't try to take him to the university, wherever it was.

"Can you stand up?" Kame asked.

Jin wasn't entirely sure how to go about getting himself vertical, now that movement was more complicated than pushing just the right way in the water. He didn't have a tail to flip anymore. Presumably, humans stood up all the time, so there had to be some way to manage it. Perhaps if he pushed down on the sand with his hands, he could propel the rest of him upwards.

He tried this, pressing his hands flat by his sides, lifting himself bodily off the sand. He didn't get very far.

Kame laughed nervously. "I'll take that as a 'no', then. Hold still a sec."

It wasn't quite that quick, but Kame moved as he spoke and soon enough, Jin was further off the ground than he'd ever been, aloft in Kame's arms. He hoped it was safe. With his legs curled up to his chest like that, Jin had a much better view of his knees. They weren't, he thought, very nice to look at. He turned his attention to the scenery instead, watching with interest as sand gave way to steps, then to flat, grey stone.

This was where the buildings began. Dwellings underwater were mostly of natural formation, though the palace had been crafted by artisans; clearly, there was nothing natural about human residences. Nature was not so straight, so orderly. Kame paused in front of a white building with short, green plants growing in a patch along the ground. Jin looked up at him expectantly.

"I can't unlock the front door while I'm holding you," Kame said, sounding embarrassed. "Can you reach my keys? They're in the right-hand pocket of my shorts."

Jin knew about keys. Humans tended to lose them a lot. He reached down to approximately where he thought he remembered seeing Kame's pocket, felt around for a moment and received a nasty shock when Kame suddenly squawked and almost dropped him.

"Little further to the right," Kame said. His voice was tight, like he was holding something back. Jin hid a smile when he realised why.

It took a few minutes of fumbling to get the door open - Jin might have known what keys were, but that didn't mean he'd ever used one, and his shivers were so intense that his hands had trouble aiming for the lock. He had enough presence of mind to push the door closed behind them, however, and when Kame carried him across to a table and told him to drop the keys on it, he obeyed.

Human houses were a mystery to Jin. This one seemed nice enough - light, airy, neat - though Kame didn't bother with a guided tour, rushing him through to a small room with a tub set against the wall. Jin recognised taps - there was one on a pump by the beachfront - so he assumed that the tub was to hold water. Could it be that Kame knew Jin's true form and brought him here to set him at ease?

"You're freezing," Kame said when Jin gave him a quizzical look. He set Jin down on a mat and turned on the taps over the tub. "And you've got sand all over. I'm going to run you a nice, hot bath, bundle you up and call a doctor."

Jin knew what doctors were too...and that he didn't want to deal with one. Trying to deal with Kame was exhausting enough - the last thing he wanted was some nosy human poking and prodding at him, asking him questions he couldn't have answered even if he'd had something to say.

He shook his head vigorously.

"You don't want me to call a doctor?"

Jin nodded.

"But you need to get checked out!"

Jin folded his arms across his chest and shook his head again.

"Fine. No doctor. I should call the police instead," Kame muttered, but Jin could tell by the faraway look in his eyes that he didn't really mean it...whoever the police were.

Kame tested the water temperature from time to time; when the tub was suitably full, he turned the taps again. "Tell me if this is too hot."

Jin shrugged out of the shirt and reached over to dangle his hand in the water. It was much hotter than he'd expected, forcing him to retreat with a silent hiss through clenched teeth. It probably wasn't all that hot, he reasoned, only that he was used to the cold, so in comparison it seemed scalding.

"Need me to run more cold in?"

If Kame kept asking questions, conversation wgoing to dry up very quickly. Jin tried the water again. This time, he resisted the urge to snatch his hand away, holding it still until the burning eased to a mild discomfort he thought he could live with.

Taking the hint, Kame placed Jin carefully in the tub, lowering him slow enough that Jin had time to adjust.

 _Water._

Now Jin felt comfortable. Kame laughed at the splashes he made, at the way he scrunched down to get as much of himself as possible underwater. If Jin closed his eyes he could imagine he was back at the beach, tail out of sight, playing catch with Kame and his giant inflatable beachball.

"Definitely a water baby," Kame teased. "You're finally getting some colour back in your cheeks. I'll leave you to enjoy your bath in peace." He straightened up to go, then hesitated. "I should help you get the sand out of your hair first. Hope you don't mind strawberry-scented shampoo."

Another new experience, this one extremely pleasant. Jin squeezed his eyes shut against the spray, relaxed under the gentle motions of Kame's fingers as they massaged his scalp, working a thick, delicious-smelling liquid into his tangled hair. After rinsing out the resulting foam, Kame left him to his own devices for a bit. Jin attempted to make friends with the sponge in the corner - he'd had one as a childhood pet - but it quickly became apparent that it was in no mood to play.

He had fun messing around with the soap too, working up a nice lather and generally enjoying himself more than he had in days until Kame returned, towelling robe in hand. The bathroom was a mess. Foam on the tiles, steam clouding the mirror, water dripping everywhere.

"You seem to have revived a bit," Kame said, surveying the damage with a smile. "For a while there, I thought I was going to have to take you to hospital." He held out the robe, clearly intending Jin to step into it, which meant Jin had to try standing again.

Fortunately, the bathtub had metal rails along both sides. Jin grasped them as firmly as he could, planted his feet flat on the floor of the tub and propelled himself up, straightening his legs as he went till he was standing upright and no longer had need of the rails. He was quite proud of himself, right up until he tried to step out of the tub, failed to lift his leg high enough and tripped.

If Kame minded having a soaking wet Jin landing on him, he was polite enough not to show it. He bundled Jin up in the robe, wrapped a supportive arm round his waist, and helped him take his first ever footsteps into what was quite obviously a bedroom. Walking wasn't that hard, once you got used to it and remembered that both legs had to move in order to get anywhere.

It embarrassed Jin how much he simply didn't know. He couldn't have named the layer of soft strands under his toes, though it felt good to his bare feet. He recognised windows, yet not the hangings that adorned them, nor the covers that furnished the bed. He felt like a small child again, learning that it was a bad idea to go near any fish bigger than himself, and on no account should he risk annoying anything with pincers.

Kame guided him over to a chair; Jin's first walk came to an abrupt end as he crashed into it. He watched Kame root around in a cupboard for what he called a "hairdryer", which he proceeded to use on Jin. With the hairdryer in one hand and a comb in the other, Kame set to work. Jin shut his eyes and tried to block out the noise. The blasts of hot air felt nice, though.

"You can look now," Kame said at last. He held up a mirror; Jin was amazed by how soft and fluffy his hair appeared, even more so by the unusual depth of colour in his skin. He was starting to look more human already. The notion brought a smile to his face. Perhaps Kame would like him better if they were the same species.

"I feel like I'm looking after my niece," Kame said. "She loves it when I do her hair too. You're not *quite* as cute as she is, of course..."

Jin scowled. If Kame thought he was like a little girl, it was hardly going to lead to them kissing - and if it did, Jin wasn't sure Kame was the sort of person he wanted to be with.

Kame remained oblivious to Jin's displeasure. "I don't think you'll have too much trouble squeezing into some of my clothes, even if the legs might be a bit short for you. Do you want to take a look through and pick out something to wear?"

The shirt Jin had borrowed earlier was still in the bathroom - clearly, Kame didn't intend for him to wear it again. He liked the idea of raiding Kame's collection...but where was it? He stood up slowly, holding onto the arms of the chair for balance in the hopes that Kame would lead the way.

He did, throwing open a pair of doors that led to a small room containing more clothes than Jin had ever seen in his life, in colours and styles so varied that he didn't even know where to begin. There were shorts, and trousers, and shirts, and sweaters, and jackets and scarves and a million pairs of shoes. There were garments more hole than fabric, and a wealth of items that Jin had no name for.

"Anything's fine," Kame said. "I'm afraid you'll be going without underwear, though - you can borrow some if you really want, but..."

Jin had a vague idea what Kame was referring to but thought he could probably manage well enough without. He waved a hand dismissively, pleased when he was able to accomplish this without toppling over. Kame nodded, pulled on a fresh shirt of his own and sat back to watch with amusement as Jin lost himself amongst the clothing.

Ten minutes later, Jin's enthusiasm had dimmed with the onset of tiredness. Remaining upright in water was second-nature. Not so on dry land. He emerged with a pair of long, comfortable pants of the kind he'd seen Kame wear for a run along the shore, a sparkly black T-shirt and a soft, zipped grey jacket. Kame took the shirt from him, trading it for one less likely to get glitter over everything, and passed him a can of what Jin hoped was deodorant (because if it wasn't, he'd just used cooling spray or something under his arms).

There didn't seem to be a good way to get both legs through the pants at the same time - not while standing. Jin avoided tripping himself up with the material only because he figured out that you had to do it one leg at a time. Daily life was full of small traps when you were a human, he thought.

Once Jin was decently attired, Kame made him lie down on the bed and produced a small glass stick, the end of which he stuck under Jin's tongue. Jin had been optimistic when Kame told him to open his mouth, but the thermometer, for that was what Kame named it, was not quite what he'd been hoping for. The metal end was cold, for one thing, and it felt weird under his tongue. Jin was relieved when Kame took it away again.

Kame obviously wasn't, judging by the way he was frowning at it. "Your temperature's up," he said. "You'd better stay in the bed."

Jin didn't have any objections to that; he was comfortable, especially when Kame pulled the covers out and draped them over him. The bed was more than large enough for two so he had no qualms about taking up space.

"I bet you've got a waterbed at home, haven't you?" Kame commented.

He rummaged around in a drawer next to the bed, pulling out pen and paper. Jin knew what they were for - one of his acquaintances from the beach was very fond of doing something she called 'Sudoku'. But if Kame was expecting Jin to help him with puzzles, he was out of luck. He'd seen plenty of examples of writing before, all of it meaningless squiggles. He didn't know anyone who could read; there was no call for it underwater, and for obvious reasons, none for writing either.

"I'll make you some hot soup in a minute, but I need to make some phone calls. Can you write down your full name for me? Plus your address, and details of someone I can contact - friend, family member, whatever - to look after you?"

He held out the pen for Jin to take, looking puzzled when it was rejected with a sorrowful shake of the head.

"Dyslexic? I'm pretty good at figuring things out."

Jin shook his head again, taking the pen in one hand and shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't even sure how to hold it properly. It was embarrassing, not being able to do these simple things that Kame clearly took for granted.

"I know you're feeling ill, but...are you _sure_ you're a university student?"

The pen was a dead weight in Jin's hand. He set it down on the bed and gave Kame his best pity-me eyes, the ones that always worked on Nakamaru.

"I don't suppose you know how to read a map?" Kame said.

Jin hid under the covers.

\-----

Since Kame couldn't arrange for anyone else to take care of Jin, he was stuck doing it himself. He didn't seem to mind, fortunately. He left the bedroom door open while he fixed the soup, so Jin overheard him calling his manager to explain that he wouldn't be in today, on the pretext of nursing a sick friend.

Well, it was hardly a pretext, but Jin did feel better after a mug of hot soup. For obvious reasons, Jin's exposure to hot food had been extremely limited and this made a nice change. Kame willingly refilled his mug when he held it out.

"When I offered to cook for you, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Kame said, "but I'm pleased to see you appreciate it."

Jin beamed at him to indicate that yes, Kame's cooking met with his approval and he was looking forward to trying some more of it later. Kame seemed encouraged by this, because he smiled back and ruffled Jin's hair. Jin hoped it was a good sign.

"Unless you want something else, I think it would be a good idea for you to get some rest now." Kame left with the empty mug, returning a moment later with a glass of water which he set down next to the bed. "I've still got to work - I've been talked into giving a couple of interviews over the phone - but I shouldn't be loud enough to disturb you. I won't leave the house, though; if you need me, I'll be easy to find. I don't have..." Kame sighed helplessly. "I don't have a bell or anything you could use to attract my attention, I'm sorry. I'll just have to come back and check on you."

Despite Kame's insistence that he had to work he seemed in no hurry to leave, fluffing Jin's pillows, tucking the covers more firmly about him, smoothing his bangs back from his brow. Jin decided that this would be a good time to play up his charm points and tried to look as winsome as possible. Kame wouldn't want to kiss someone who looked as though he was going to expire at any minute, would he? No, Jin would be bravely fighting off his illness with the constant application of Kame's tender loving care.

"And here's a basin in case you need to throw up," Kame finished, placing one next to the bed. "Try not to get any on the carpet."

Jin groaned silently and settled down to sleep.

\-----

He woke up alone, though he could hear Kame moving around somewhere in another room; based on the height of the sun streaming in through the windows, he knew he must have been asleep for quite some time. It had done him a world of good, he thought. The tiredness had left his limbs - in fact, he felt like he could keep walking for days.

It took a while for Jin to extricate himself from the covers. Without any means of attracting Kame's attention he had to go exploring unaided, but he was more than up to the task, lowering his legs carefully from the bed and standing straight without the need for support. Walking was no longer a novelty. Why, Jin thought he might even be up to running - assuming he had anywhere to run to. Kame's house wasn't really built for it.

There weren't many rooms Jin hadn't seen yet. His tentative explorations led him to a room for cooking, where a lidded pot contained the remains of the soup; another, even tinier room led off this one, big enough to hold a large metal box and a basket of clothes.

When he heard Kame call, "I'm in the lounge!", Jin opened the remaining mystery door to discover Kame reclining on a long brown couch, watching moving pictures on a flat screen. Since Kame seemed to find the pictures so absorbing, Jin looked at them too. There were tiny men hitting a ball with a bat and running, and other men catching the ball. Baseball, Jin thought it was. He'd seen kids playing it at the beach once, and asked them about the game.

"The Tigers are playing the Giants," Kame said. "You a fan?"

Jin made a noncommittal hand gesture. He was more interested in how the little men got in the screen in the first place. There didn't appear to be a door of any kind.

Kame scrabbled around for something Jin couldn't see, and then the game froze. Jin stared at the tiny figures, watching for the slightest sign of movement. Why had they stopped? Had they been bespelled?

"I recorded it last night," Kame said. "It's not live." He moved over on the couch to make room, leaving space for Jin to join him. "Feeling any better?"

Jin nodded, dropping down onto the soft cushions and enjoying the way he immediately bounced back up again. Kame had _nice_ furniture. It wasn't quite the same as being in the water, of course, but he'd take what he could get.

"Okay, you certainly look livelier," Kame pulled the dreaded thermometer out of nowhere, "but let's make sure."

He was much happier with Jin's temperature this time, telling him he was almost back to normal. Jin didn't have a clue what the "normal" body temperature for a merman was, but he was sure it wasn't the same as a human's. If Jin was becoming normal for a human, did that mean he was sick for a merman?

Kame went to rinse the thermometer, returning with hot, sweet tea for them both; having learned his lesson from the soup, Jin managed to hold back long enough to avoid burning his mouth again. He'd never been very good at self-restraint, though.

"You've been asleep for almost seven hours," Kame said. "I kept checking on you and finding you trying to turn yourself upside down."

That wouldn't do. Not only had Jin slept through seven perfectly good hours which he could've been using to make Kame fall for him, but he'd been acting suspiciously too. There was no way he could explain himself.

At least, not verbally. Jin had seen performers at the beach before, doing all sorts of tricks to entertain the crowds, and he'd clapped along with everyone else at the sight. Underwater, he'd loved lazing around on his back, tail over his head - why couldn't he do that on land?

Without the tail, of course. Jin was no stranger to walking on his hands, only he usually had the water as a buffer to stop him toppling over and even if he fell, he was hardly going to hurt himself.

He swivelled round on the couch so that his legs were draped over the back, but before he could lower his hands to the floor, Kame reached out and tickled his stomach where his shirt had left a gap. Jin brought his knees down automatically and almost rolled backwards off the couch.

"Sorry," Kame said, helping him back up, "but I couldn't resist."

Jin did his best to look indignant but judging by Kame's gleeful response, he figured he'd ended up with something more like a pout. Ueda's comments on communication via body language weren't helping - even though Kame was touching him, these were not the sort of touches that were going to satisfy the spell.

"Were you aiming for a handstand?" Kame asked.

He leapt off the couch, kicked off his slippers and bent down, hands spread in front of him. Jin watched enviously as he took a few halting steps, and then worriedly as he approached the teacups. To avoid a collision, he grabbed Kame round the ankles to steer him away from harm. They managed less than a dozen steps in this manner before Kame's laughter got the better of him and he had to right himself or choke.

Jin gave Kame's approach a try and was delighted to discover that as long as he remembered not to wave his tail - no, his _legs_ \- around or try to swim, he fared perfectly well.

"Show-off," Kame said as Jin began his second circuit of the room. "For someone who couldn't even walk on his feet this morning, you've come a long way."

Jin flashed him an upside-down grin, toddled round to the other side of the couch and promptly overbalanced. Kame laughed so hard he couldn't stand up, so Jin joined him on the floor, huddled in the corner, immersed in fits of silent giggles.

The longer Jin laughed soundlessly, the more alarmed Kame became. "It worries me that you're not making any sound at all," he said. "Even if your throat's bad, there should still be _something_." He pulled out his cell phone; Jin grabbed for the dangling surfboard strap, snatching it away before Kame could call for medical assistance.

Exasperated, Kame let the phone go rather than break the strap. "I wasn't going to call a doctor." He didn't sound terribly convincing. Jin glared at him until he relented. "Fine, I was. But I think you need to get yourself checked out. What if it's trauma-related? I found you naked and unconscious on the beach - no clothes, no keys, no cell phone... Anything could've happened to you."

Jin silently cursed his uncle for destroying his collection of clothing. He couldn't have done anything about the lack of cell phone, of course - while plenty of them ended up in the sea, the water didn't do them a great deal of good. Besides, who would he have called?

"You're obviously repressing some kind of terrible memory," Kame decided, ignoring Jin's attempts to look casual, at ease, and wholly without voice-stealing trauma. Ueda might've been weird, but he wasn't *that* scary. "Though I don't suppose a doctor would be much help considering you can't answer questions right now..."

As gratifying as it was to have Kame concerned about him, it was verging on annoying. Jin gave Kame his biggest, brightest smile before returning to the couch. The tiny frozen men were no longer showing on the screen - it appeared to have switched itself off.

Kame shrugged and joined him. "You're right. Get into normal routine, that's the important thing. Let's see what's on television. Stop me if you see a channel you want to watch."

He brought out a long plastic rectangle, covered in buttons; the television, as Jin now knew it was, returned to life. No more baseball games, though. Every time Kame pressed a button the image changed, flicking from a diving contest to a family sitting round a table to a row of young men interviewing a guest.

The television must have been incredibly vast on the inside, Jin thought, to hold all those people. By far the most interesting channels for him were those playing music - especially when Kame appeared on the screen. Jin grabbed his hand to stop him changing channel again, eliciting a pained groan from Kame.

"You want to watch one of my PVs?"

Jin nodded. He still wasn't sure what a PV was, but if it involved Kame wearing a black fedora and masses of eye make-up he was all for it. In any case, he liked the song. It wasn't one he could've danced to but if he'd had a voice and known the words, he'd definitely have been singing along.

"LIPS is pretty impressive to look at, I guess," Kame mused. "It was a lot of fun to film. I must've sprayed half the staff with my microphone."

Film. That explained it. Kame obviously couldn't split himself in two to be on the television at the same time as sitting next to Jin on the couch. There were no people in the screen - everything was pre-recorded. It was such a shame Jin was never going to be able to brag to Nakamaru and Koki about all the wonderful discoveries he was making.

The song finished and another Kame appeared on the screen, this time with another young man, a small boy, and a group of dancers.

"Seishun Amigo?" Kame covered his eyes with his hands. "They must be playing doubles. You don't need to watch this."

By the time Kame risked uncovering his eyes, Jin was off the couch and dancing along like he'd known the moves all his life. This song was a completely different genre to the previous one but no less enjoyable; Jin hoped there would be more to follow.

He got his wish almost immediately, as it transpired that the channel was hosting a request show and anyone could call in, though only women were doing so and they weren't interested in requesting music by anyone but Kame.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Kame complained as Jin thrust his hips to a song announced as 'Don't U Ever Stop'. "I bet you're unstoppable in a club."

Jin didn't respond, only tugged him off the couch so they could dance together and then Kame, too, was moving to the beat, keeping time with a wicked smirk and one hand resting lightly on Jin's hip.

"That launch party I told you about," Kame murmured. "That's tomorrow night. Feeling up to it?"

In Jin's experience, parties led to dancing and dancing led to kissing and kissing was going to lead to him having legs for the rest of his life, not to mention other interesting things that Jin wasn't quite sure how you were supposed to accomplish with legs in the way but he was more than willing to find out about.

"Then I think we'd better go shopping in the morning," Kame said once Jin had made his interest in the party more than clear. "You need something to wear."

The prospect of having his own clothes was a heartening one for Jin. Dressing up, where he came from, generally didn't involve much more than making sure your scales were shiny and possibly donning a shell necklace or two. If the event was really formal, gold jewellery and gems lost by the surface added a touch of class. For parties on the land, he was going to have to look to Kame for cues on what might be appropriate.

They danced for a few more songs, practising for the following night, but to Jin's dismay Kame was more interested in singing them to him than making other use of his lips. Jin tried being more obvious, sliding his arms around Kame's neck as they slow-danced to a beautiful ballad with the intention of bringing them closer together.

It didn't work. Kame disengaged as the song faded out, declaring that he was starving and would Jin be interested in getting some dinner?

"I've got menus for everywhere," Kame said, taking a handful from a drawer. "We can order in whatever we want. I could really go for some squid."

Jin froze, feeling mildly sick at the thought of eating someone he might have met.

"Or maybe some shrimp," Kame continued. "There's this place down the street that does-" He caught sight of Jin's horrified face and immediately dropped the menus. "I should've guessed - no seafood, huh?"

\-----

It took a great deal of ingenious miming on Jin's part and detective work on Kame's, but they eventually ended up ordering a couple of pizzas which, Kame went to great lengths to assure Jin, did not contain seafood in any shape or form. Neither did the garlic bread, the potato wedges, or the giant chocolate brownies they had for dessert.

"We'll work it all off tomorrow," Kame said airily. "You need a lot of calories for clothes shopping."

They watched more television while they ate, though Kame always changed the channel whenever his own face appeared. Between the music, dramas and commercials he'd made, that meant they never stayed longer than a few minutes on anything.

"I like working," Kame said when Jin acted out a silent skit of Kame working himself to death. "It's nice to take a break, but if I stay still too long I'll go crazy."

Privately, Jin thought anyone who worked as much as Kame obviously did was already crazy. The results were worth it, though. When Kame left the room to take a call, Jin played around with the remote until he found one of the dramas - this one, with Kame playing a boxer in love with a nun. Jin wasn't sure which impressed him the most - Kame's physique or the sheer amount of food he managed to cram into his mouth.

After about half an episode, Kame returned. "I need to go out for a bit. Will you be okay by yourself?"

Jin nodded, thoroughly engrossed in watching Kame hug inanimate objects on the screen. He wasn't going anywhere.

Kame sighed. "If you're going to watch 'One Pound Gospel', you might as well start from the beginning and see how they meet. Here, I'll put the DVD on for you."

Ten minutes later, Jin had been educated in the use of DVD players and Kame was long gone, not returning until Jin had worked his way through a whole three episodes.

"I think that's enough for one night," Kame said gently, switching off the equipment. "Time for bed. I picked up a toothbrush for you on my way home."

Thanks to the wonders of television, Jin knew what one did with a toothbrush, and many other mysteries of the human world had become clear to him. Similarities, too. In some ways, his world wasn't so different. The young and weak were bullied regardless of species, friendship could be a tremendous source of strength, and love was always fraught with difficulties.

Kame left him alone in the bathroom after showing him where everything was, which gave Jin time to explore properly. He had a few issues with some of the buttons on the toilet but escaped mostly unscathed. As with the television and DVD remotes, he had to memorise the symbols; he was going to have to learn to read, sooner or later, else he was going to end up with more than just a few minor burns.

When Jin emerged, he looked at Kame expectantly. The couch, in the time he'd been away from it, had acquired a cover and pillows.

"This is for me," Kame said, patting its back. "You take the bed."

Jin shook his head. He didn't want to make more of a nuisance of himself than he had already, considering Kame had done so much for him. He made for the couch himself, but Kame steered him back to the bedroom.

"If you need anything, come wake me up, okay? I promise not to get too mad about it."

Kame refused to leave until Jin was snuggled up in the bed again, but there was still plenty of room - Jin didn't see why they couldn't share. He patted the empty space next to him and gave Kame a hopeful look.

"And get kicked when you try to turn yourself upside down again? No thanks." Kame paused by the door. "I'm serious; wake me if you have to. Goodnight, Jin."

In lieu of speech, Jin offered a small smile and an inclined head, though the latter was less out of politeness and more because he was trying to watch Kame's hand, which was hovering over a panel on the wall. When the overhead light suddenly went out, plunging the bedroom into darkness, Jin was able to add another item to his ever-growing list of marvellous human discoveries.

The light switch.

\-----

Perhaps it was the hours he'd slept during the day, or perhaps it was the excitement of being able to walk amongst humans at last, but Jin spent a restless night, tossing and turning so much that he almost rolled out of bed. He pretended to be asleep, though, when Kame periodically crept in to check on him - only cracking his eyelids a fraction to see Kame's silhouette in the light streaming from the room beyond.

But on the fourth such occasion, when he peeked, it wasn't Kame who'd come to check on him.

"You're not doing very well, are you?"

Ueda, dressed in black pants, white shirt and grey cardigan, strolled casually over to the bed to lounge in the remaining space, one of the glowing magical orbs following in his wake to light up the room.

Jin sat up in a panic, looking frantically at the bedroom door. What if Kame heard?

"He can't hear me," Ueda said. "Or see me. I'm only here to visit you. Like the legs? They're not as long as yours, of course, but I'm not out to seduce anyone. Not today."

That was small comfort to Jin, given that the mermage was lying mere inches away from him while wearing an expression to which even the word "predatory" didn't do justice.

"Think you'll be able to make him kiss you in time? I'm not so sure. He's puzzled about you...and worried. Because you don't have _this_." Ueda held out the clam shell containing Jin's voice, opening it just enough for the first few bars of a sea shanty to escape before snapping it shut again, tucking it away in his cardigan where Jin didn't dare try to snatch it. "What would you say to Kame if you had your voice back? Tell him how much you like his music, or perhaps that you enjoyed his dramas?"

As if Jin would waste his words on something like that. He scowled at Ueda, crossing his arms over his chest to indicate the depth of his displeasure.

"It's frustrating for you, isn't it?" Ueda's tone was sympathetic but Jin was positive he didn't mean it. "Not being able to tell anyone what you're thinking, what you want. Doesn't it make you angry?"

Jin opened his mouth to give Ueda a piece of his mind, but this only served to amuse him further.

"How about we raise the stakes, then? If you manage to win yourself a kiss by the time your three days are up, I'll return your voice too. But..." Ueda made the ball of magic disappear, leaving them in darkness. "If you fail, you disappear. No second chances, no going back to your uncle, no life of servitude under me - I don't need another incompetent minion."

With that final, terrible bargain, the mermage vanished. Jin could no longer feel the extra weight on the bed, or the sinister presence beside him - just by Ueda *not* being there, the room seemed less dark. What that said about Ueda's twisted personality, Jin didn't want to contemplate.

Still, Ueda was giving him a chance, wasn't he? Jin thought he might explode if he had to remain silent for the rest of his life. Obviously it wasn't necessary to sacrifice a voice to acquire legs, since Ueda had temporarily traded in his tail without having to resort to mime to communicate.

Jin sank into an uneasy sleep, Ueda's gleaming smile threatening to wipe the memories of Kame's gentleness from his mind, which roiled much as his body had done before. Such turbulence directed his dreams, taking him back to the night he'd first met Kame.

Oh, not the first time Kame thought they'd met, eyes locking over Kame's broken surfboard while the lifeguard shouted for everyone to leave the water. This was another storm, another time - a night when Jin had swum up to the surface in a huff, angry at his uncle, and almost hit his head on a boat. The weather had been nearly as bad as his mood, with black, tempestuous skies, threatening rain but never quite delivering; it was a night neither man nor merman should be away from home.

To this day, Jin still wasn't sure exactly what had been taking place on the boat. He could recognise cameras, now, after seeing them around the necks of countless tourists, but these were much larger; some, mounted on stands. Everyone seemed to be engaged in one of two activities. Either they were busy securing the boat against the weather, or they were pointing their cameras at a young man in black.

Jin couldn't see his face clearly, but he admired the cut of his clothes, which were like nothing Jin had yet managed to acquire for his collection. The black-clad man was constantly moving, keeping his balance remarkably well despite the turbulence until one great gust of wind caused him to slip. He clutched the rail to save himself from the deck; his hat, less fortunate, was carried out to sea, where it was immediately whipped away from all would-be rescuers.

The other men and women on the boat wanted to turn around and head back to the shore till the storm passed. It would've been the sensible thing to do. Jin's seabird friends would take shelter on a such a night; humans ought to do the same. Jin wondered if there would be an accident, if he'd end up having to save drowning men and women from the storm the way his ancestors had in the stories his uncle used to tell him.

No one appeared to be in immediate danger of falling overboard, however, though they were clearly having trouble steering. Jin swam closer, knowing no one would notice him in such violent weather.

But someone did. The man in black caught sight of him.

A life preserver came flying towards Jin; the man responsible yelled encouragement at him. Jin was half-tempted to duck beneath the waves and disappear but he didn't want to risk the humans trying to "rescue" him. They had no way of knowing he was far safer than anyone on the boat.

He also couldn't let them pull him to safety. One glimpse of his tail and it was all over. From Jin's perspective, the heavy rain that began to fall was well-timed, providing him with cover.

Not so for the humans, of course, who were hard-pressed to keep their feet. The pair who were steering lost control altogether. Unchecked, the boat bore strongly to the left and the man in black, hammered by the torrential rain, disappeared from Jin's sight.

He reappeared again a few moments later, coughing, fighting to keep his head above water. No one on the boat seemed to have noticed that their star attraction had left them for the stormy seas. Jin pushed the life preserver towards him - it might have been useless for a merman but it could mean everything to a human, whose fragile respiratory system could not extract oxygen from water, and whose skin was no more use than paper to stave off the cold.

The man went under twice before Jin reached him. The second time, he stayed submerged until Jin got a handful of his shirt and yanked him up to the surface. A pale, half-drowned wretch with a blue tint to his lips and a smear of blood where his head had gotten acquainted with the rail; Jin wasn't sure he was even breathing anymore.

Nevertheless, he made the poor creature fast to the preserver, giving him all the support he could without tangling his own tail in the rope. Meanwhile, the humans on the boat had finally noticed that one of their number had fallen overboard. Soon enough they started drawing him in; Jin clung on for as long as he dared, hoping he wasn't holding onto a dead man.

They were reeled in almost to the boat before Jin's hopes were confirmed. "Thank you," the man in black wheezed, so faint that Jin could barely hear him over the storm. His eyes were still closed, his limbs motionless.

Surprised, Jin said, "You're welcome."

He made a great show of swimming towards the shore, waiting until he was far enough away that they couldn't possibly have spotted him before diving for home. On his way, he stopped to pick up a souvenir - one soaked black fedora.

\-----

Jin's troubled night showed itself on his face the next morning, when Kame expressed alarm over his obvious weariness. It would have been easier to appreciate his concern had Kame not been showing signs of his own broken sleep.

"I was checking up on you," Kame confessed when Jin pointed to his tired eyes. "What's your excuse?"

Assuming he didn't expect an answer, Jin shrugged. He didn't have the concentration to spare on dodging the issue, not when his omelette was in danger of landing up on the floor rather than in his mouth. Though he'd seen cutlery in use many times, grasping the theory didn't quite equate to successful practice. They hadn't needed any last night; this morning, Kame had made them both breakfast and Jin intended to do justice to it.

"I suppose you can't be feeling *that* bad," Kame said with amusement after he had to make Jin a second helping. "Not with that appetite."

He presented Jin with a plastic bag, apologising for having to guess at the size, and packed him off to the bedroom to find something to wear for their shopping trip. Now in possession of underwear, Jin wondered if that was why Kame had been out so long the previous night. He picked out a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt that only buttoned up from halfway down his chest, hoping it was suitable attire for wherever they were going; Kame had to delve in the back of his wardrobe for a pair of black boots he said would probably fit Jin. A pair of sunglasses completed the outfit.

"Be careful with those," Kame warned. "They're vintage."

Kame himself was costumed none too formally, wearing ripped jeans and a navy T-shirt covered in light blue dolphins. He donned the twin to Jin's sunglasses, grabbed keys, phone and wallet and escorted Jin outside for his first ever ride in a car.

Jin hadn't even noticed the shiny white vehicle parked outside Kame's house on his way in - he'd been too busy watching the scenery. Walking outside now on his own two feet put a different spin on things. He followed Kame to the car, trying to act like he'd been riding in them all his life, but knew he'd failed when Kame gave him a gentle nudge and told him to go round to the other side and climb in his own door.

He knew to fasten his seatbelt, though - television was very educational, not that knowing what to expect made it any less disconcerting when the car suddenly started moving. Jin clutched the door handle.

"You're not one of those guys who freaks out if they're being driven by someone else, are you? Because there's no way I'm letting you drive my car."

Pity. After watching Kame for a while, Jin thought he could probably manage quite well behind the wheel, though he doubted Kame would ever let him try. It was the putting his feet on the pedals part that might give him difficulty, as he didn't ordinarily use his tail to control anything except his own movements.

He enjoyed the ride, watching the world out the windows while Kame concentrated on the road ahead, sparing Jin only the occasional glance until they parked underground. Although Jin remembered to unfasten his seatbelt before attempting to exit the car, he forgot that sunglasses and dark, underground car parks didn't mix too well and avoided walking into a pillar only because Kame stopped him, directing him towards a set of double doors at the far end.

"Let's see what we can find before I get spotted by fans. Whatever happens, just keep smiling," Kame advised.

The advice didn't register with Jin until the second shop (they hadn't found anything in the first) where two sales assistants, three other shoppers and the security guard all asked for Kame's autograph. Jin looked askance at the attention. Was Kame really so well known? It would explain why he was all over the television - not to mention, half-a-dozen billboards they'd passed during the drive.

They found themselves ducking behind clothing racks whenever teenage girls appeared, though Jin's extra inches of height sometimes hampered him in this and Kame had a tendency to get distracted by certain items of clothing which led to him running off in pursuit, forgetting to keep himself hidden as a rack of shirts rolled past. Then they had their pictures taken, an experience Jin found sort of alarming until he saw the results and understood why Kame had advised him to keep smiling. He looked much better that way.

"You can wear that to the party if you really want, but you might get some strange looks." Kame expressed his doubt over the tiny black dress Jin was holding up. "And we'd have to get you some shoes to match."

Jin tried to point out that he hadn't chosen it for himself, he'd just picked it up off the floor having accidentally knocked it off the hanger, but his acting skills only took him so far. He hurriedly returned the dress and went over to study a selection of sleek black jeans; Kame approved of these and took him off to try them on.

There wasn't much space in the fitting room. Kame waited outside till Jin emerged in denim so tight he was beginning to regret having a second serving of breakfast.

"The simple black and white look really suits you," Kame said, and the cluster of sales assistants who'd gathered around him agreed. "Let's find you a top to go with it."

They didn't find one for Jin, but while Kame was paying for the jeans he spotted a cute pink one for himself and immediately added it to the pile. The assistant at the register asked if Jin was an idol too.

Kame had an answer ready. "He's playing opposite me in my next drama," he said. "He's already getting into character as a mute, so please don't expect him to speak to you.

"And he doesn't do autographs."

\-----

Kame's story changed each time anyone asked about Jin, so Jin endeavoured to play the part to the best of his ability. In one shop he was Kame's cousin from out of town who'd lost his voice after watching his best friend die in a horrific shark attack, in another he was an eccentric songwriter who wouldn't speak to anyone except his personal psychic. When they broke for lunch and the waiter, who seemed fascinated by Jin, showed them to a private table in the back, Kame changed tactics slightly.

"He's mine," he said firmly, "and he's not allowed to talk or I'll punish him later."

Jin had to hide his face behind the menu so the stunned waiter couldn't see how hard he was laughing.

Kame waited until they were alone before joining in. "It'll stop him trying to flirt with you. Look, you're going to end up in the gossip magazines with me now anyway so you might as well cultivate an air of mystery. If we get enough stories going about you today, by the time they hit the press no one's going to have any idea which one's true."

It was fortunate indeed that the menu had pictures for every item of food - Jin could simply point to what he wanted. But when Kame asked him what he'd like to drink, showing him the back page of the menu, Jin was alarmed to see that it was nothing but a sea of text, all nonsensical to him. Should he risk picking one at random?

"Can't decide?"

It wasn't a matter of indecision. Jin shook his head and quickly jabbed the first line of the menu that wasn't printed twice as large as the rest.

"It's not Tuesday," Kame said, sounding puzzled as he read the text. "That offer doesn't apply. And even if it *was* Tuesday, you're not under ten." He leaned in across the table, lowering his voice to a hushed murmur. "You can't read, can you? Any more than you can write."

Kame didn't sound unkind, merely curious, but that didn't stop Jin's shoulders from drooping. He wished he'd known reading was such an essential skill before going to Ueda - he might have been able to bargain with the mermage for some lessons, since if anyone under the sea could read, it was sure to be him.

"It's fine, okay? Really." Kame placed a comforting hand on his arm and began to read the drinks menu aloud. "Stop me when you hear something you want. Coke, Diet Coke, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade, ginger ale, green tea..."

This continued until Kame reached the end; since Jin still hadn't chosen, he repeated himself. Jin went with apple juice second time round.

Kame still had one hand on his arm when the waiter returned to take their order, so he had to fend off an enquiry into Jin's welfare by explaining that Jin looked upset because they'd accidentally broken his favourite pair of handcuffs last night.

"I just think it's funny to watch his face turn different colours," Kame said once the embarrassed server had scampered off.

Jin wasn't sure what handcuffs had to do with anything - he'd seen them on a criminal in one of the dramas he'd skimmed through last night, but couldn't work out how that was relevant to his situation. His obvious bewilderment amused Kame no end, right up until the waiter returned with a bowl of the sweet crackers they kept for children, as a means of cheering Jin up.

The crackers were shaped like fish. Jin burst into tears.

One free meal later, they were back in the clothing stores. Kame had had to explain three times that the crackers were merely shaped like fish and did not contain seafood in any shape or form before Jin ceased his silent sobs over the fate of his neighbours. The waiter had been absolutely mortified, though that was nothing compared to his manager's distress.

"I thought she was going to fire him on the spot," Kame confessed. "Especially when he then screwed up your order and brought you sashimi by mistake."

The whole ordeal had been rather embarrassing for Jin. He resolved that next time he was presented with something that might be the remains of someone he knew, he would investigate it carefully to ascertain whether or not this was truly the case.

Still red-faced, he worked his way through shirt after shirt before settling on one in white silk, smooth and cool under his fingers. A black tank top for beneath completed the outfit to Jin's satisfaction.

"It's perfect." Kame had squeezed in the fitting room too, ignoring the suspicious looks he'd received from the staff. "We just need to get you some socks and a few other things..."

"A few other things" turned out to be a buttery-soft leather jacket, matching boots, and a silver pinky ring to which Jin took a fancy. He wasn't sure why until he noticed an identical ring glinting on Kame's hand. Matching jewellery, he thought, was a step in the right direction.

In the time they'd put together one outfit for Jin, they'd managed to buy three for Kame. The expense gnawed a bit at Jin's conscience but when Kame expressed his surprise at how little they'd spent compared to his normal clothes shopping sprees, Jin immediately stopped feeling guilty and started wondering what else he might need. He had to look good for his first party on the surface, after all.

His first...and possibly his last, if Kame didn't start showing some interest. He hadn't so much as pounced on Jin in the fitting room - though he had been looking out of the corner of his eye, Jin had noticed. That still didn't add up to a kiss. If the worst came to the worst, Jin would simply have to go with his back-up plan - get Kame very, very drunk and make himself very, very available. Ueda hadn't said he couldn't.

By the time they drove home, Jin had regained his confidence. It helped that he knew he was going to look extremely good. Kame's willpower couldn't be *that* strong.

While Kame had first shower, Jin took the opportunity to poke around the house for a bit, trying to learn more about his host. Not the wardrobe - he already knew Kame had more clothes than he could possibly wear in one lifetime - but in cupboards and drawers, on shelves and behind furniture. He found accessories in almost as great a quantity as clothing (Kame appeared to have a particular fondness for skull imagery), sports memorabilia (Kame was quite the baseball fan, it seemed) and stacks of albums that were not, if the covers were any indication, by Kame (Jin had watched Kame change music in the car, but not once did he ever play any of his own). Jin was impressed by the sheer amount of possessions. Even before his uncle had destroyed his treasure trove, he'd never had even half as much to call his own.

But then, most of Kame's fancy toys and pretty clothes would do him no good underwater.

"Your turn."

Jin whirled round from his study of the kitchen cupboards - which were, thankfully, fish-free - to find Kame leaning against the counter, towel wrapped around his hips, hair dripping. Water trickled down his bare skin, on a mission to catch as much of Jin's attention as possible before it reached the tiled floor. Thus far, it was doing an excellent job.

"The shower? Your turn, Jin." Kame's smirk said he hadn't missed the way Jin was staring at him like he was the first human he'd ever seen. "Try not to destroy the bathroom again."

A dismissal, not an invitation. Jin swallowed his disappointment and went to immerse himself in water for as long as he could get away with it. When he finally emerged, Kame was already dressed. Pity.

"You'll break some hearts tonight," Kame declared once they were both ready to go.

If Jin had been able to, he'd have said the same thing about Kame. His outfit matched Jin's closely, but where Jin wore white, Kame wore a deep, rich purple; both adorned themselves with silver jewellery. Jin thought that if he got to stay on the surface, he might get his ear pierced like Kame.

They were picked up in a black car driven by someone Kame evidently didn't know that well, because he made no attempt to talk to the driver beyond telling him where to go. That matter taken care of, he turned his attention to creating a cover story for Jin.

"Who would you like to be tonight?" Kame whispered. "An exotic foreign film star with a rare throat condition? A singer who needs to rest his vocal cords for a show tomorrow? A former gang member who had his voice tortured out of him in a really sadistic initiation ritual?"

Jin didn't even want to think about what Kame meant with that final option.

"Or maybe...I just won't say anything," Kame decided. "I'll let everyone speculate on my handsome mystery date. Don't forget to smile for the cameras."

But Jin never got anywhere near the cameras.

They were waiting at a set of traffic lights when pain flared across Jin's hips, making him double over against the seatbelt. The same, familiar agony he'd felt on the beach, sacrificing his tail for legs. Twin trails of fire streaked down his thighs, racing lower and lower till even his toes were burning.

"Jin? What's wrong?" Kame had one hand on his back now. "What happened?"

Jin turned desperate eyes on him. How could he make Kame understand what was happening, when he didn't even know himself? Was Ueda's spell failing? Was Jin about to make his brand-new jeans completely redundant?

Kame told the driver to take them to the hospital, but Jin shook his head. If he really was changing back, going to hospital wasn't going to do him any good. He had to see Ueda.

"But you're in pain," Kame protested. "I can see it. I know you don't like hospitals but-" He broke off sharply as Jin caught his hand in a bone-crushing grip, squeezing down in a move he'd learned from a crab friend of his who wrestled professionally.

Kame winced. "Fine, no hospitals. What about home?"

Not Jin's home. Kame's home. But for all intents and purposes, the same place right now. Jin relaxed his grip; Kame massaged his sore hand with the other and told the driver to take them back where they came from.

The agony only increased on the return trip; Jin didn't even have the mercy of oblivion this time. He remained hunched over, taking huge, hungry gasps of air and screaming down into his chest, all soundless. He barely noticed Kame making a phone call to explain his absence from the party. The excuse flew straight past him, as did all other sounds and sights until they pulled up in front of Kame's house.

"Now," Kame said grimly as they watched the car speed off into the distance again, "I'll take you home. Hold on."

Jin had been sitting against the front door, waiting for Kame to find his keys, but Kame scooped him up instead and headed for the beach as fast as he could manage - not a smart move, perhaps, given the darkness, but the right one.

Heedless of the detrimental effects of sand and seawater on their respective party outfits, Kame sank to his knees by the water's edge, setting Jin on the ground. "There," he panted. "Home. Right?"

The shock cut through Jin's pain-induced haze, snapping him, if not completely back to his senses, at least to a state of something less than total muzziness. Why had Kame brought him to the beach? Did he know? _Could_ he know?

Slowly, Jin pushed off his boots, letting them lie empty on the sand. It didn't look like he was going to need them anymore.

Socks followed. The lamps set at intervals along the beach were too far away for Jin to examine his bare skin closely but he couldn't feel scales yet. If he was transforming back into a merman, he wasn't starting with his toes.

"What's happening to you? Can I help?" Kame's distress level wasn't much lower than Jin's. "Who are you, Jin?

" _What_ are you?"

"If you want to help, get that stuff off him and get him in the water."

 _Koki?_

Sure enough, Koki was bobbing in the water, calling across the waves; he'd had to moderate his voice so Kame could understand him. Jin couldn't understand why he was there, though. Koki should be far below, maybe seeing his AquaDance star girlfriend, maybe hanging out on the reef with Nakamaru.

But no, Nakamaru was there too, swimming as close to the shore as he dared. "We said we'd watch for you, didn't we?"

Kame's hands dropped to his sides and he mouthed silent exclamations, like he was the one with no voice. Jin wanted more than anything to be able to explain to him, especially when Nakamaru flipped over and crawled up the beach, tail on bold display. Kame didn't recoil in disgust, or run away in horror. He sat perfectly still, with Jin's head propped up in his lap.

Neither merman bothered to address him again, speaking only to Jin, although they knew full well he was unable to reply.

"Ueda's on his way," Nakamaru said. "He sent us to wait for you."

"You didn't think we'd been waiting around all this time, did you?" Koki's flippancy failed to mask his concern; Jin returned the smile with a weak attempt of his own, hoping the pain didn't contort it into a grimace.

Kame finally found his voice. "You really are a mermaid?"

Jin scowled up at him.

"Merman," Nakamaru corrected. "I know he's pretty, but-"

"Right now he's neither." Ueda rose from the water, accompanied by a tall, dark-haired merman who didn't need to introduce himself - the moment Jin saw his cheerful, sunny demeanor, he knew he was looking at Junno's original form. "Neither human nor merman, that is, and that's not a state he can sustain for long."

Kame folded his arms protectively around Jin's chest. "What's happening to him? And why can't he speak?"

Ueda ignored him, holding out a clam shell to Jin. It wasn't the one with his voice, Jin knew - this one was considerably paler. When he showed no signs of accepting it, Ueda sighed, grabbed Jin's hand and folded his fingers over the shell.

"Junno knocked the other one off the shelf," he explained. "Sixteen times."

"It kept opening up and making fun of me!" Junno protested.

A small bolt of lightning flashed from Ueda's index finger, zapping Junno on the arm. "You could've ignored it. Or argued back, or done anything except swimming past it and knocking it off the shelf. I'm only giving you your real form back so you don't regress any further into primitive behaviour."

Even through the pain, Jin couldn't keep from smiling. His voice had been acting independently, it seemed.

"When the shell finally shattered, your voice was released," Ueda continued. "That broke our bargain, which is why you're beginning to change back. We don't have a deal anymore."

Jin's legs spasmed, twitching furiously as his body tried to regain its original shape. He clenched his fists against the pain, crushing the shell in his palm...and was astonished to hear his own soft moans when a thin, incorporeal stream pushed past his lips, giving him voice once more.

It wasn't much, but it was enough for Kame to catch. He helped Jin sit up. "Since nobody else is willing to tell me what's going on with you..."

"I..." Jin swallowed hard. It seemed like years since he'd last spoken, even though it was less than two days and it wasn't as if he didn't have the practice. "I wanted to see you. So I made a deal. My voice for legs."

"You currently have both," Ueda pointed out, "yet you haven't fulfilled your end of the bargain. I told you last night how you could have both."

This was news to Koki and Nakamaru.

"Both?" Koki said. "What kind of bargain is that?"

Ueda shrugged. "I changed the rules."

"Can he do that?" Nakamaru asked.

Junno nodded. "He can do whatever he wants. You try stopping him, see how far you get."

He received a gentle smack from Ueda for that. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around," the mermage said.

As thrilled as Jin was to see his friends again - and better yet, to be able to talk to them - he was slightly annoyed that no one appeared to care about the excruciating pain making him wish his lower body would simply dissolve. He didn't recall it being so bad the first time round - though passing out might have had something to do with it...

"It's the clothes." Ueda fingered the cuff of Jin's jeans. "Your tail can't reform with the material in the way."

"Then we should get you out of these, shouldn't we?" Kame's fingers flew to Jin's waistband, sought out button and zip and undid both before Jin even registered what was happening.

"You want me to turn back?" Jin was crushed. After everything that had happened, Kame wanted him out of his life? Was it that detestable, for him, that Jin was a merman?

"No, I want you to stop hurting, silly."

"But-"

"He's doing the right thing, so let him help," Nakamaru advised. "You can't stay like this forever, Jin."

"You can still see me," Kame said. "I'm always here, aren't I?"

"But you'll be _here_ ," Jin trailed his fingers over the sand, "and I'll be _here_ ," then let them slide into the sea. "I can't walk in your world and you can't breathe in mine."

No one argued with Jin - how could they, when he was right? Kame's time in the water was limited in many ways, and Jin couldn't manage with a tail on the surface. He'd seen wheelchairs, now, but he rather suspected that unless he got one equipped with a water tank, his tail would soon feel the lack of moisture.

"Would you accept a deal from a human?"

Kame's addressing Ueda surprised everyone - except possibly Ueda. "Depends what you have to offer," the mermage said, all business now.

"What would it take to make me a mermai- uh, _merman_?," Kame hastily corrected himself.

Jin froze in the act of wriggling closer to the water, which he'd hoped would help ease the burning. "You can't do that! You shouldn't do that!" He locked eyes with Kame, searching for some sort of reasonable explanation as to why he would be willing to throw away a perfectly good life on the surface for one so foreign to him. " _Why_ would you do that?"

Kame sighed. "Jin, do you know where I was last night? I went to meet the guy I thought was your swim coach. They didn't have anyone on the team fitting your description - well, except some first-year named Takaki and even then it was only the hair. Then I asked about all currently enrolled students."

"I never actually told you I was at university," Jin said uncomfortably. "You made that assumption yourself."

"I thought I'd misunderstood at first. But since I found you here yesterday...the more time I spent with you, the more obvious it became that not only were you not from around here, but you were from nowhere I could ever go.

"Did you know I tried to follow you, sometimes? I'd pretend to leave, then wait for you to dive before I returned to the water. I thought maybe you were swimming round to a cove or something, that you had some secret hideaway.

"I didn't know you were hiding a whole other world."

"It hides itself, really..." Nakamaru muttered.

"You knew I wasn't human?" Jin asked.

"Well...for a while I did think you were just some kind of piscine rights activist from an extremely sheltered background. But you did seem much more at home in the water than out of it, so I thought maybe..."

Koki snickered. "He's not exactly at home in the water either. This isn't the first time he's tried to leave, only the first he's been successful. Sort of."

Ueda looked thoughtful. "Not many humans would think of merpeople, though - we don't exist, as far as you're concerned."

"But I've seen one before," Kame said.

He related the tale of what Jin knew to be their first actual meeting, and what Kame thought was some sort of miraculous rescue that he might possibly have hallucinated, given that one did not ordinarily see men with tails, much less get saved by them.

"I lost sight of him," Kame finished on a sad note. "But I know I saw a tail! Just not much else."

With the storm, and Kame's state of injury, Jin wasn't surprised that Kame had neither seen nor remembered much. He'd barely been able to open his eyes.

"I remember that storm," Nakamaru interrupted. "Jin, wasn't that the night you and your uncle had that big fight about..." He trailed off, suddenly suspicious. "Please, tell me that wasn't you."

"Would you believe me if I did?"

"You can't lie to save your life," Koki said. "Your face gives you away every time."

"This is all very touching," Ueda said, sounding more amused than touched, "but if we don't come to some arrangement soon, Jin's body will start to reshape itself around the fabric and I'm in no hurry to see the results."

"You're the one with the magic powers," Jin huffed. "Why can't you just fix me?"

"Because you haven't kept your end of the bargain," Ueda said gently. "Granted, matters are coming to a head earlier than they should be and that isn't your fault - unless you want to take responsibility for your voice's provocative actions while removed from your body - but one way or another, this must end tonight. Either fulfil your end, or let your body resume its original shape."

Behind him, Koki and Nakamaru were giving Jin hopeful looks, telling him that he could always come home.

"To fulfil your end of the bargain, you have to lose your voice again?" Kame asked.

Jin laughed bitterly. "It's not that simple." Ueda's eyes warned him that he couldn't tell Kame, not if he wanted to hold on to his chance. "To become human, I have to..." he searched for a euphemism, "...give myself to one."

"You have ownership papers?"

The other mermen laughed so hard they almost caused a tidal wave between them.

"Uh...not exactly..."

"Is there some phrase or...oh." From the sparkle in Kame's eyes, Jin was hoping he'd hit on it. "Do merpeople claim each other through mating rituals?"

Even Ueda was beginning to get sick of this. Or perhaps he was just annoyed because Jin kept splashing him every time his legs twitched. "Think on a smaller scale," he advised. "Not so ambitious, especially not out here. You'll get us all arrested."

Jin failed to see how this was an issue for a guy who could probably make them all invisible if he wanted, but he wasn't about to complain if Ueda was giving out hints.

Hints Kame eventually got. At least, Jin hoped he had, otherwise Kame was sliding his arms around Jin's back for no good reason, pointlessly pressing his lips to Jin's, wasting his time nudging them apart to slip his tongue uselessly inside. It was a desperate kiss, searching for confirmation; Jin's body tingled in a way that had nothing to do with the spell and everything to do with the way Kame tasted. It was the first kiss he'd ever had that didn't taste of the sea.

Kame withdrew, looking uncertainly at Jin's legs. "Did I do the right thing?"

The searing pains had vanished about the same time Jin was sliding too far into bliss to notice them. "I think so, but it never hurts to make sure." He tucked his now-mobile legs under him, ignoring the soaked denim so he could sit up properly. "We should try again."

Kame grinned as Jin leaned in for a second attempt. "Fine by me. I'm happy to keep experimenting as long as you want."

Ueda's fake cough was so loud it actually drowned out the sounds of Koki's fake vomiting. "You might want to save that for another time. Here's a tip for you, Jin - humans get sick when they sit around at night in wet clothing."

"He really is human now?" Nakamaru asked.

"Should be. Strip him and find out," Ueda suggested.

Jin didn't care for that idea, but he did want to make sure he wasn't just on another two-day trial. Shucking the clothing on his lower body and ignoring the resulting catcalls from his friends, he stepped into the water. Nothing happened. His legs remained solid, without scales. He removed the rest - everything except the silver pinky ring - and went further, deep enough that he could no longer stand.

Kame swam out to join him. "You got that ring with me," he said. "Take it off, and let's see if anything happens when you're completely free from human ties." He held out his hand.

The second the ring lost contact with Jin's skin, he felt an odd tugging at his legs, as though he'd been wrapped in seaweed. He flipped back in the water, trying to bring his legs up for a look.

"That answers that question," Ueda muttered. "By removing the ring, he breaks his bond with Kame and loses his human form."

Kame was so fascinated by Jin's tail he nearly didn't return the jewellery. "What happens if he loses the ring?"

"Don't," Ueda advised, "or the two of you are going to have much bigger problems than who left the straighteners on."

"Huh?" Jin didn't have a clue what that meant.

Ueda flashed them both a sunny smile before diving beneath the waves, dragging Junno behind him.

"Assuming he was telling the truth, I think we'd better head home," Kame said, horror written all over his face. "If it's still there!"

\-----

Luckily, Kame *hadn't* left the straighteners on - Ueda mentioned later that he'd just wanted to leave on a high note - so the house was still there, just as they'd left it not three hours ago. Nakamaru and Koki's protests had been silenced by Jin's promise to meet at the beach the next day, but he'd been adamant that he wasn't returning to the water.

"But what if you argue?" Nakamaru had asked.

"I argue with everyone," Jin had pointed out. "And I make up with them too. No one can resist me for long."

"Don't bet on it," Koki had said, splashing Jin with his tail as he left.

"You definitely get to keep your voice?" Kame checked for the third time as he and Jin huddled under blankets with dry clothes and hot drinks, trying to stave off the chill.

"Unless Ueda's lying to me, which isn't impossible, I get to keep it."

"That's a relief, because I hope your singing is as good as I think it is."

"It is," Jin assured him. "Why?"

"Well," Kame grinned wickedly, "it's always helpful to have a nice singing voice if you're going to launch a career as a singer. What, did you think I was going to support us both forever?"

Jin had never done a day's work in his life; the thought of trying to maintain Kame's schedule horrified him. "Uh...did I ever tell you about how I'm a prince?"

"No, but my next tour's going to be pirate-themed, with me as the king of a band of criminally pretty underaged pirates, and we've got an opening for the queen. Interested?"

It was just as well that nobody Jin knew was ever going to see what he made of himself on the land, as the only person likely to approve, in a creepy sort of way, might actually be Uncle Johnny. After he'd gotten over the horror of Jin running away to live with the humans, anyway.

No. To _be_ human, to the best of his ability and with Kame's help. They lived every day through together, worked and played, quarrelled and made up. Jin learned, in time, to fill in the gaps in his knowledge: how to name the unknown, how to entertain his fellow humans with his talents, and how physical love was radically different when there were no tails involved.

Kame learned too. How to say 'no' to work, how to take time for himself without feeling guilty about being unproductive, and how much fun it was to teach Jin all sorts of things that had never seemed magical to Kame simply because they'd always been a part of his life. Watching Jin use the microwave for the first time, or talk to sponges, or even stare in rapt fascination at the moving hands of a clock - these were all experiences to be treasured, just as much as every kiss, every caress, every touch between them.

Jin had a whole new treasure trove now - one no one, not even his uncle, could take away from him. His memories were far more precious to him than all the possessions in the world; Kame was always eager to help him add to his collection, suggesting places that Jin had never even dreamed of going, or activities he hadn't known existed.

There was one thing Jin flatly refused to do, though, no matter how many times Kame tried to convince him that it was all right.

He still wouldn't eat seafood.


End file.
